Meeting Disparities Where they Reside: The Geography of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities in Cardiovascular Health

摘要

Despite the Institute of Medicine report on racial and ethnic disparities in health care outcomes that was published more than 10 years ago, disparities in health outcomes including cardiovascular disease outcomes persist. The recent literature on racial and ethnic disparities in cardiovascular disease outcomes incorporates geospatial-mapping analyses in order to shed light on the ways in which disparities vary by location, highlighting variability in access to health care. In addition the problem of access to health care, the quality of the health care that is available to minority communities has also been scrutinized, underscoring the potential of quality improvement interventions to reduce existing disparities in cardiovascular outcomes. Targeted interventions to expand health education, expand access to primary and tertiary care and improve the quality of the health care received by racial and ethnic minorities could reduce disparities in cardiovascular outcomes.